Tilting control elements are used in motor vehicles where several functions can be executed by means of a single control element. Examples therefor include toggle switches for electric windows or electrically adjustable exterior mirrors, as well as joystick-like control elements for controlling an on-board computer. In this case, joystick-like control elements are understood to be such control elements that can be tilted in at least four directions, so that a menu in a display system associated with the control element can be addressed by means of the joystick-like control element. For a more pleasant operation and a tactile feedback of the actuation, a force that varies over the displacement, by means of which the user is advised that the switching process has been carried out, is required for operating the control element. In the known control elements, this force-path behavior is usually produced by one or more springs or cooperating permanent magnets, which additionally return the control element into a mid-position when the user releases it.
A control element, in particular a joystick with a tilting feel for a motor vehicle, is known from DE 10 2006 002 634 A1. The control element has a tiltably mounted lever with a primary and at least one secondary lever arm and at least one permanent magnet pair, wherein one magnet of a permanent magnet pair is arranged on a secondary lever arm and one magnet is stationarily disposed in the control element. In this case, unlike poles of the magnets face each other such that the control element is retained in a mid-position. The force behavior over the displacement of the control element in this case depends on the parameters: length of the secondary lever arm, strength of the permanent magnets, physical size of the permanent magnets and the size of the air gap between the magnets of a permanent magnet pair. The secondary lever arm, and thus, the entire lever, is retained in the mid-position by the force between the magnets. In order to tilt the primary lever arm, the user has to overcome a force. The counter-force which the user has to overcome in order to tilt the primary lever arm can be represented graphically, with the force for displacing the lever decreasing again after a force maximum has been overcome, rising again after an end stop has been reached. The behavior of the increase of force, decrease of force and re-increase of force, which the user of the control element is able to feel, is in this case called the feel of the control element.